


Reversal

by dilangley



Category: Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Character Study, Decade Long Acquaintance, Gen, Pre-Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-29 02:39:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15063215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dilangley/pseuds/dilangley
Summary: Claire Dearing and Eli Mills first met in college. He was two years younger, green and enthusiastic, and she never suspected he would catch up to her. She certainly never thought she would one day be standing his office, grateful to receive his blessing.





	Reversal

**2007**

_They met at a summer leadership conference hosted by Stanford. He was an attendee, a college sophomore bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and she was a senior organizer, freshly-graduated and delighted by spreadsheets._

_She could actually see Eli Mills fall into her eyes when she signed him into the conference. He asked her out two days later._

_He sent flowers to her office a few hours before he picked her up for dinner. The note confirmed time and enthusiasm._

_He wore a freshly-pressed blue shirt and always managed to be a step ahead of her to open the car door, the swinging door into the restaurant, to pull her chair out for her._

_He ordered knowledgeably but asked her opinion first. He took her suggestions on the best sauce for linguine._

_They talked for two hours, ordering dessert and then coffee to let the conversation continue. He believed in private zoos and personal collections. Listening to him, she could almost believe old men with big money would save species through generous spirits. He soared with optimism. Of course, in reality, she knew better and told him so._

_It was a perfectly lovely date._

_Claire Dearing thanked him at the door, and he squeezed her hand in his. His eyes were kind as he replied._

_“Let’s keep in touch even though this isn’t going anywhere.”_

_She startled. “Am I that transparent?”_

_“Only to someone paying attention. I’m sure our waiter would be shocked.”_

_She smiled. “You did everything right.”_

_“The words every guy wants to hear.” His smile wobbled but recovered._

_“I’m just tremendously busy. I just accepted a full-time position at the park,” she said. She leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Good luck saving the world, Eli.”_

_“Good luck marketing it.”_

  
\-------------------

**2012**

Claire Dearing tapped her foot on the floor and watched the live feeds. The breeding program for the Apatosauruses, a good idea on paper, had her team of veterinarians in a frenzy. They had wanted more time to study and prepare, but Claire knew they would never feel confident or ready. If there was one thing she had learned here at Jurassic World, it was that academics would never give the green light for action. They would simply have to chase progress, their measuring tools in hand, after she greenlit it.

She turned her gaze to a more pressing live feed -- not one of the animal paddocks but the hallway outside her office. Her 3:00 appointment had been seated on the bench in the hallway for 15 minutes, and it was only 2:56. He typed away on his laptop. In black and white, viewing him with his head down, she could not tell if he had changed. She waited out the remaining time checking on the aggregate data from today’s guest surveys.

Exactly on time, she snapped out into the hallway.

“Welcome, Mr. Mills,” she said.

Eli closed his laptop and rose to his feet. “You have quite a park here, Ms. Dearing.”

They shook hands firmly, and as she led him into her office, she turned her critical eye to how he had changed. He wore spectacles now, balanced on his nose, and his baby face had lost its soft edges. Like so many men, he was more handsome now than at 22. Then his business expression softened, and he became more handsome still.

“So, Claire, how are you?” He sat down. She sat down in her rolling chair without it moving an inch and crossed her legs. His voice made her feel exposed as if he could look at her and still see the hungry grad trying to prove herself. She opted not to join him in congenial warmth.

“I’m doing well. How are you?”

He frowned, a little stung by her tone, but rallied. “Well, thank you.”

“Formalities aside. Should we talk business?” She asked.

“Yes. Have you had an opportunity to read Mr. Lockwood’s proposal?”

Had she ever. Benjamin Lockwood, brother to the original park’s famous Mr. Hammond, had a vision for dinosaurs quite different from Jurassic World’s Simon Masrani. Mr. Masrani saw himself as the literal and spiritual successor to John Hammond, a man who loved the dinosaurs and wanted to bring them to the masses. He balanced money-making with moony, starstruck dreams. Benjamin Lockwood saw no dollar signs in dinosaurs. He saw a chance to right a wrong, to allow dinosaurs the life given to them but without fences and tourists, merchandise and staff.

He wanted to buy the park, in its entirety, in order to dismantle it. He wanted Jurassic World, the amusement park that best rivaled Disney, to become a nature preserve. It was ludicrous.

“He wants to overpay for the park’s current valuation. Then he wants to continue to pay all of the employees, right down to the slushie pourers in our kiosks, to work on disassembling the mechanisms they currently run.” She marveled at Eli’s ability to listen to that statement without flinching at its absurdity.

“His timetable is more than fair. For many of the employees, there would be guaranteed work for five more years and then a severance package. For other employees with managerial positions, you will be in place for at least eight more years.”

“It’s a hemorrhage. It will be the end of the Lockwood fortune.”

Now he chuckled, a small, offended snort. “I can manage the estate and help it weather this venture. We have other sources of revenue to make up for the expenses regarding the sanctuary.”

“Do you know how much it costs to feed one of those?” She pointed to the screen. A Parasaurolophus nosed its way up to a manmade pond. Even in the audio-free feed, she could practically hear the loud, sloppy slurping. “A single Para has a skull nearly as long as I am tall. It's a three-ton ton eating machine.”

For the first time, Eli’s confidence flickered on his face. “Aren’t they grazers?”

She went for his question like blood in the water. “Of course. If these were prehistoric times and this was a mainland naturally lush with prehistoric plants, they would be. As it is, we have to plant and maintain expensive foliage in a foreign environment and supplement it with imported modern foliage. We have to make sure the assets will be able to eat even if a strange disease decimates a Jurassic palm tree, you see.”

“I see.” He swallowed hard.

“They fail too. The Parasaurolophus has had a huge variety of dental problems over the years. Some batches turn out perfectly and then mysteriously the next will have issues that require specialized food service, sometimes for weeks at a time. Without the veterinary care and the food, they may very well have died. I suppose that would be fine if Mr. Lockwood was one of those animal activists who were willing to see these animals go extinct again as long as they did not have to live in contained spaces, but he’s not. I’ve met Mr. Lockwood several times over the years. He is passionate about dinosaurs. He wants them to live.”

“Yes, he does.”

“Having read your plan, I do not see how it will lead to better lives for these animals. We may make a tremendous amount of money off of this park, but we do so by taking very good care of our assets, and that includes the dinosaurs. Mr. Lockwood’s a dreamer, an idealist, and his plan is not better than what is happening here,” she said.

“You’re rejecting the proposal.”

“Honestly, you should be withdrawing the proposal. You’re a smart man. If Mr. Lockwood wants to be an investor in Jurassic World, you draw me that proposal, and we’ll get him a say in our strategic planning. It’s not all about marketing surveys of which prehistoric fish is most desired by visitors. A lot of the work is devoted to new species and evolving genetics.”

“Mr. Lockwood does care about genetics,” Eli said.

They talked for a few more minutes, and Claire admired how Eli’s eyes changed to steely determination as they spoke. Bright intelligence concentrated there; she could see him problem-solving and changing directions. He would march back home to push for a better plan. Perhaps he would be back in her office pitching it within weeks.

If he had not fallen into his job with Benjamin Lockwood as a college student, Eli could have been an operations manager for something like Jurassic World, something incredible and unprecedented. Instead, he was stuck babysitting the fortune of a man determined to squander it.

As she said goodbye to Eli, she tried not to shudder at how easily she could have ended up in his shoes rather than her own.

A rush of sweet gratitude made her reach up to touch the screen as the Mosasaurus swam into view. Her job amazed and astounded her, even when it was easy to forget that in the daily minutiae.

 

\--------------------

**2016**

_Eli Mills did not answer his phone._

_She had first called him from her car in the parking lot of InGen. Only minutes before, she had been standing in front of her former bosses, arguing for the necessity of sending veterinarians and behaviorists back to Isla Nubar._

_They listened to her with glazed, disinterested faces and asked no questions. She tasted her own failure with each word she said. She wasn’t surprised when they let her go._

_Her name had been stamped on an incredible failure. Claire Dearing had overseen the park taken down by a single manmade dinosaur. It was a mercy they had only fired and blacklisted her. A lawsuit would have been able to get traction._

_Perhaps that was why Eli would not answer her calls. She had told Benjamin Lockwood his way would never work only to have her way go down in a tremendous fireworks display. He had no reason to call her, no reason to listen to her, and if Mr. Lockwood did not need her, neither did Eli._

_She called again ten times over the next five weeks._

_“Hello, Mr. Mills. This is Claire Dearing again. I’m calling in regards to the dinosaurs from Jurassic World. I would like to talk to Mr. Lockwood about crafting a proposal for InGen to purchase the island and the assets. We can make his plan viable. It’s for the dinosaurs.”_

_Eli never called back._

 

\--------------------- 

**2018**

Eli seemed taller standing over his digital tabletop, flinging miniature dinosaurs with two fingers. He outlined his plan with utter confidence. The plan -- go to the island and rescue the dinosaurs in a banner of righteousness -- sounded more like the plot of a hopeful novel than a viable proposal.

“Everything else is already on the ground. All we’ll need is you and Owen Grady on a plane tomorrow morning. Do you think you can make that happen?” Eli asked.

The buzzing sensation on her skin begged her to take charge of this operation and point out its flaws to Eli. They would need more than what he was listing if they were hoping to save eleven species in the remaining hours the island had left. At the very least, they would need people who had expertises he had not yet mentioned. Claire swallowed down the questions she wanted to ask about the finances though. A decade ago, Eli had taken her out to dinner in a shirt from The Gap, ironed to within an inch of its life and tucked in, and today he wore an open Neiman Marcus blazer with utter confidence. He must have been doing something right financially.

“Do you have a paleoveterinarian on site?” Claire asked.

Eli hesitated. “No.”

“I have one on staff at the Dinosaur Protection Group. I can bring her.”

“Moving endangered species is illegal, and the island itself is unbelievably dangerous. I’m not sure it’s wise to bring additional people into the operation,” Eli began, but Claire lifted a hand to cut him off.

“It’s illegal technically, but by the time any court proceedings came into place, public opinion would buoy you as a hero. Not that Zia Rodriguez is going to be your whistleblower. She’s worked for peanuts at a non-profit in half of an insurance agency’s office space we can barely afford to rent. She cares about the animals.”

“Okay.” Eli relented reluctantly. “Anyone else we need?”

“A desk jockey who can make things happen with the computer system. I don’t care who you think you’ve got; I’ve got someone better.”

“Wow, Claire.” He chuckled, but his eyes held no laughter. “Your confidence is unstoppable. Bring your vet and your IT guy. Make me send you my specs on the operation. Recalibrate my budget and confirm my investors for the sanctuary’s longevity. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to save those dinosaurs. You can’t stop this one.”

She did not know whether to respond to the words’ lightness or the steel beneath them. Had she caused this? Had she prevented the actions that would have saved the animals and people of Jurassic World years earlier? Would the employees killed instead be happily involved in new ventures, severance packages in the bank, and the animals safe on a sanctuary island?

How heavy should the guilt feel?

“I’m not here to stop this. I’m here to help. Let’s save the dinosaurs. Wish me luck.”

“Claire Dearing won’t need it.” This time, his genuine smile emerged and made her smile too. “She’s a force of nature.”

It was not until she was in her car, driving to find Owen, that she wondered why Eli had not called sooner if he had such tremendous respect for her.

She still believed in the person she had never really known until it was too late.

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely monkeyed around with the timeline for this one. Yes, in the movie, Eli says they met briefly once 7 or 8 years ago, but I couldn't shake this more appealing idea. I had to get it out before my muse would even let me consider my Owen/Claire fic!


End file.
